Monday, February 15, 2010

Adam of Club Silencio here. If Kathryn Bigelow is said to be the "Queen of Directors," what other female auteurs make up her court and competition? Most excitingly, what's on the radar for these savvy women who're still holding supreme reign in our male-dominated cinematic monarchy?

Julie Delpy

Her Last: 2009's The Countess, Delpy's historical take on evil Hungarian Erzebet Bathory and her virgin bloodbaths, has yet to find a proper US release. Delpy produced, wrote, directed, scored and starred in the project.

Her Latest: IONcinema reports that Delpy's readied a script for 2 Days in New York, a sequel to her 2007 ode to neurotic indie love, 2 Days in Paris. French farce once again follows Delpy as she follows Adam Goldberg to New York, dumps him, and finds herself a new neurotic American.

Nicole Holofcener

Her Last: 2006's smart ensemble comedy Friends with Moneycontinued with female bonds and collaborations with Catherine Keener. Holofcener also continued partnership with HBO (her resume includes TV classics Sex and the City and Six Feet Under), directing an episode for the first season of Bored to Death.

Her Latest:Premiering at Sundance to rave reviews, Please Giveonce again stars Catherine Keener (as well as Oliver Platt and Amanda Peet) in a story of antique dealers eyeing an elderly neighbor's apartment.

Kelly Reichardt

Her Last:2008's Wendy and Lucy had Michelle Williams playing a truly dire game of fetch with her lost dog, Lucy, her life's only companion.

Her Latest:Meek's Cutoffagain teams Reichardt with Michelle Williams for this period western surrounding a family and the treacherous crossing of the Cascade Mountains in 1845 under the guidance of Stephen Meek, a hired guide. The film also stars Paul Dano and Shirley Henderson. It's currently in post-production.

Lynne Ramsay

Her Last: 2002's masterful Movern Callar followed Samantha Morten's titular character as she mourned a lost lover. Ramsay was also at one time attached to direct The Lovely Bones (a thought we all should mourn like a lost love).

Her Latest:We Need to Talk About Kevin, her long awaited follow up, is an adaptation of Lionel Shriver's novel about a boy's killing spree before his sixteenth birthday and the emotional aftermath felt by his mother. Tilda Swinton stars as the mother, tentatively alongside fellow indie fave John C. Reilly.

Sofia Coppola

Her Last:2006's undervalued punk period-piece Marie Antoinettespun a fresh take on a child (Kirsten Dunst) thrust into luxury and the pantheon of historical villains.

Her Latest:Somewhere follows a troubled A-list actor (Stephen Dorff) wasting away in LA's famous Chateau Marmont, who's rattled by a visit from his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning). Phoenix (Coppola's hubby is the lead singer) is scoring the film.

There are obviously tons of women I neglected to mention, these were just a few whose upcoming works I was excited to see. One I sadly neglected is Andrea Arnold. I'm stoked to see what she has in store after "Fish Tank." Apparently she has an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" in the works, starring Ed Westwick of "Gossip Girl."

As for Julie Taymor, I simply haven't followed her work that closely, though I'm intrigued by Helen Mirren of course. I've yet to see "Amreeka," Tarantino_Junkie, but I liked "Frozen River." Hunt is apparently prepping a film called "Northline," about a poor woman in Nevada who imagines conversations with Paul Newman. Curious stuff for sure.

Ha I was just popping in to holler Andrea Arnold, Adam. But since you beat me to the punch let me just say, very very nice post, and I'm so glad to hear Reichardt's already got her next one done! I hadn't heard anything of it yet.

I have to say this: if Ms Bigelow is the "Queen of Directors", shouldn't that make Jane Campion the empress? (Or something?) How about "the mother of us all"?

Onto the young'uns, though - my sweetie and I really enjoyed Saving Face (2004) written and directed by Alice Wu, but I don't see anything upcoming in Alice's imdb page. Not a surprise in this economy (in fact it's a miracle her first film got made at all: a Chinese-American lesbian female-centered multigenerational romantic comedy-drama.) But her script was very fine and layered, avoiding the usual cliches, and I love to see her do more, please.

I second the anticipation for We Need to Talk About Kevin. That is exactly the type of role that Tilda could get another Oscar nomination for. The book is one of the most compulsive and uncomfortable I have read for a long time. Its sort of like a very twisted mirror image of The Deep End. But its success with the Book Club crowd means that it could turn out to be mainstream enough for Oscar to take notice

I'm very curious about Deepa Mehta's future projects...she's trying to make a movie based upon Salman Rushdie masterpiece MIDNIGHT CHILDREN and another one about the Komagata Maru tragedy. actually it seems she's very busy after the success of her oscar nominated WATER. she's going to direct also a gangster movie in which she will pair Bollywood hunk John Abraham with sexy girl Milla Jovovich

another female director I used to like is Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA, EUROPA)...even if I recognized her latter films haven't been interesting...hopefully HIDDEN and CHRISTINE: WAR MY LOVE (two movie regarding the very Academy-friendly subject of WWII) will put her back on track

I'm always excited to see the next movie by Miwa Nishikawa, who's known by some as a protegé of Kore'eda, though her movies don't strike me as terribly derivative of his, especially in their offbeat, ironic tone.

Her best movie that I've seen is Sway (2006), but I haven't seen Dear Doctor (2009), which got good reviews at the Chicago International Film Festival -- unlike Kore'eda's entry, Air Doll.

No means to diss on Sarah Polley by leaving her out. I've been watching her since I wasn't even sure why I was watching "Avonlea." Thought "Away From Her" was striking as well. Too many great women making movies, which is actually quite a wonderful thought.

Also the "Queen of Directors" quote was Tarantino, not my own words, though I definitely like Bigelow.